Lexicon

Lexical CompetitionLexical competition takes place when speakers of a language can chose between two words (sometimes a loanword and its native counterpart) to describe the same thing. Then the two words are in lexical competition with each another. In Russian, there are many English loanwords that are being used, even though they already have Russian counterparts.

Technological developments at the beginning of the 20th century led to increased borrowings from German and English. English became fashionable, and many new words entered the Russian language: фильм (film), джаз (jazz), бойкот (boycott), and теннис (tennis). English loanwords decreased during the Soviet era, when diversion from the standard language was seen as a mark of social status.

At the end of Cold War only one superpower remained; English was the international language, and American culture, entertainment and corporations were growing all over the world. Also, the development of the Internet united people, and induced people to borrow more English words.

Russia, unlike France for example, has no significant government resistance to the adoption of foreign loanwords into the language. Russian youth slang is very receptive of English loan words, with 20% of slang words being of English origin. Equally receptive is the language of technology, business and mass media. Some of the words recently borrowed include: broker, dealer, distributor, and manager. This is mainly because their Soviet-era counterparts like директор (director) and начальник (chief, director) now have negative ideological connotations.

Semantics

Body Language/GesturesThere are multiple differences in Russian and American body language and gestures. First of all, Russians do not use “air quotes” to express irony, like Americans do. Since this gesture doesn’t exist in the Russian-language world, they just say that a person said something with heavy irony.

Russian has some great gestures involving the neck. One is drawing the hand across the neck in a cutthroat motion, palm down; in both Russian and English-language contexts this can mean a threat. but in Russia, the gesture has additional meanings. First, it can indicate that you have, or have had, too much of something; if you eat too much at (an informal) dinner, you can make that gesture and say: Не могу больше, сыт по горло. (That’s it for me, I’m totally stuffed.) It also works in other contexts: Извини, не могу тебе помочь. У меня своих дел по горло. (Sorry, I can’t help you. I’ve got more than enough to deal with myself.)This gesture can also mean that you don’t have something that you need very badly, and can be accompanied by a variation of the phrase: Позарез нужно. The first word in that expression is an adverb meaning “very badly,” and is formed from the same root as the verb резать (to cut/kill), so you can see where gesture and language meet here: Мне позарез надо с ней поговорить. (I absolutely have to talk with her.)Then there’s the famous gesture seen only in Russia, when someone flicks his index finger against his neck, indicating that someone was drinking/drinks. Legend has it that Peter the Great rewarded the good work of a carpenter or shipbuilder by granting the man a tattoo on his neck of the royal insignia, ensuring him free drinks for life. So when he went into a bar he could just tap on the tattoo to ask for booze.Also, Russians and Americans both count off lists of items on their fingers, but they do it in different ways. Americans typically start with a closed fist, and stick the thumb or index finger out first, in an opening-up gesture. Russians start with a flat palm, and then bring each finger in to a fist, often starting with the pinky.

Below is a video about Russian gestures and body language, as explained by a native Russian speaker.

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